21. Whose Past Is Our Prologue?

10.1163/ej.9789004154858.i-433.46

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Chapter Summary

This chapter shows that the current havoc of humanity is a struggle to decide on whose interpretation of the past, on whose formulation of the prologue to globalization, are the plans for humanity’s future to be based. It suggests that the violent turmoil of the age is a symptom of an identity crisis of humankind at large, precipitated by globalization. For an understanding of that identity crisis, the evolutionary origins and uses of intent, memory and identity are sought and interpreted. This interpretation is then applied to the global laboratory in which many, incompatible needs demand fulfillment. In that perspective, the identity crisis may be seen as a struggle to decide upon whose understanding of the past, upon whose collective memories are the plans for the future of mankind to be based.